Australia to send 200 troops to the Middle East to protect oil supplies

Australia will send 200 troops to the Middle East to protect crucial oil supplies from Iranian forces in a mission Prime Minister Scott Morrison concedes may extend beyond the initial six-month deployment.

After weeks of deliberations by the national security committee of cabinet, specialist personnel will now work to formalise the rules of engagement before an Australian Defence Force frigate and surveillance aircraft arrive in the increasingly hostile Strait of Hormuz later this year.

The Prime Minister slammed Iran's harassment of commercial oil tankers as"destabilising behaviour" and a threat to Australia's national interests.

"This is a modest, meaningful, and time-limited contribution that we are seeking to make to this international effort," Mr Morrison said at Parliament House on Wednesday.

Advertisement

Illustration: Matt GoldingCredit:

"Fifteen to 16 per cent of crude oil and 25 to 30 per cent of refined oil destined for Australia transits through the Straits of Hormuz. So it is a potential threat to our economy.

"Australia will defend our interests wherever they may be under threat, we will always work closely with our international allies and partners and we are steadfast as a regional partner."

Global commodity trading has been rocked in recent months after a series of Iranian attacks on international merchant vessels and the seizure of a British tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway in the Gulf of Persia through which almost a fifth of the world's oil passes.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formally requested Australia join the effort to combat Iran's "unprovoked attacks" during bilateral talks in Sydney earlier this month.

It is understood Pakistan and Korea are deciding whether to join Australia, the US and United Kingdom in the Middle East mission.

Loading

Australia will send a P-8A Poseidon surveillance plane for one month before the end of 2019, while an Australian frigate with 177 troops will be deployed in January 2020 for six months.

Asked whether the ADF would respond with force if events suddenly escalated, the chief of the Australian Defence Force, General Angus Campbell would not go into detail but said the team would be "operating under international law".

"Labor supports this decision. We do so on the basis of this being a mission that is tightly framed around freedom of navigation for commercial shipping," Mr Marles said.

Asked whether the operation could last beyond its six-month timeframe, Mr Morrison said he "can't predict the future".

Australia will send 200 troops to the Middle East amid growing tensions in between Iran and the West.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"We can only plan and we can only make commitments based on the situation as we understand it. And we've taken this decision very carefully."

The United Arab Emirates is the second-biggest supplier of crude oil to Australia, and the nation's top three refined fuel suppliers - Japan, Singapore and South Korea - source much of their crude oil from the Middle East.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed earlier this month that the Morrison government was negotiating with the Trump administration to buy millions of barrels of oil from America's tightly guarded fuel reserve under an emergency strategy that would lower the risk of Australia plunging into an economic and national security crisis.

Loading

Australia has 28 days worth of emergency petrol and crude oil - well below the 90 days it is obliged to store under an agreement with the International Energy Agency.

Mr Morrison will discuss Australia's contribution when he meets world leaders at the G7 summit in France in early September.

The escalation between Washington and Tehran follows a decision by US President Donald Trump just over a year ago to pull out of the nuclear deal with Iran that had been struck by his predecessor, Barack Obama, along with Britain, China, Russia, France and Germany.